The Swimmer (1968) (Blu-ray)

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All Rise...

Judge Clark Douglas is swimming down his street from bathtub to bathtub until he terrifies all of his neighbors.

Editor's Note

Our review of The Swimmer, published
April 29th, 2003, is also available.

The Charge

When you talk about The Swimmer will you talk about yourself?

Opening Statement

"Lucinda's waiting. The girls are home playing tennis. I'm swimming
home."

Facts of the Case

Neddy Merrill (Burt Lancaster, Elmer
Gantry) is on a mission: he's determined to swim across every pool in the
sprawling, upper-class area where he lives, working his way from pool to pool
until he finally arrives at his lavish estate. His neighbors are puzzled by
this, but most of them are willing to accommodate his bizarre quest. As Neddy
works towards his goal, he encounters a host of friends and acquaintances from
his past. Some of these people are delighted to see him, others seem to regard
him with suspicion and some even seem to loathe him. Who is Neddy, exactly, and
why has he embarked upon this strange mission?

The Evidence

>From its opening minutes, something about The Swimmer feels
strangely…off. We open with a scene of Burt Lancaster stumbling through
the woods in naught but a bathing suit. The scene is underscored by elegant
music from Marvin Hamlisch, which swells to a fever pitch once Lancaster arrives
at his neighbor's pool and dives in. The dialogue scene that follows feels
ordinary enough at first, but there are some strange touches. The sudden
outbursts of laughter, the nervous glances the neighbors give each other when
Lancaster mentions his daughters, the way everyone keeps saying, "I had too
much to drink last night," in the same alternately weary and jovial way.
What's going on? Is this just an amateurish lack of tonal control on the
director's part, or are these peculiarities intentional? Such baffling moments
appear with increasing frequency as The Swimmer proceeds, but the more of
them we see, the better we understand Lancaster's enigmatic character.

At a certain point, it becomes clear that The Swimmer isn't meant to
be taken at face value, but is rather presented as a Twilight Zone-esque
parable on the hidden horrors of suburbia and the tragic side of the American
dream. This premise will sound familiar (perhaps tiresomely familiar) to those
who have seen the likes of American
Beauty, The Ice Storm, Mad
Men, Little Children, Revolutionary Road, etc.—but
what's astonishing is that The Swimmer predates all of those films by at
least three decades, yet it's as hard-hitting and insightful as any of those
efforts. While the other aforementioned titles examine a certain American
subculture in hindsight, The Swimmer is a film of its time and about its
time.

Getting The Swimmer to the big screen wasn't an easy process. Getting
the necessary financing for the film was a challenge, certain scenes took much
longer to film than expected and Lancaster fought bitterly with director Frank
Perry (who eventually left the production, leading to a young Sydney Pollack
doing some uncredited work on the film). However, the troubled production
process somehow didn't translate into a messy finished product. Based on a
13-page short story by John Cheever, which initially appeared in The New
Yorker, the film attempts to remain true to the details of the short story
while fleshing out certain elements in order to create a full-blown feature.
Remarkably, the movie never feels even a little bit padded—it's a very
precise, focused film that feels very much like the cinematic equivalent of a
short story, an atypically literary movie that is perfectly fine with asking its
viewers to meet it halfway. Many things are unclear initially, and even after
the credits roll, there are many mysteries that remain. A variety of theories
exist as to what "really" happens in the film, but I'm not sure the
specific answers are all that important. On an allegorical level (which is the
level the film is primarily concerned with), the meaning of the story is
hauntingly clear.

Lancaster often claimed that The Swimmer was the best film and
performance of his career. That's really saying something considering some of
the work the man has done, but it's easy enough to see his point of view. It's a
performance that seems simple enough initially, but adds layer after layer as
the film proceeds. Lancaster is simply remarkable during the film's closing
sequence, which is as terrifying as any horror film finale in its own way. There
are solid little supporting turns littered throughout the film (including the
big screen debut of a young Joan Rivers), but this is unquestionably Lancaster's
movie. It's a testament to the actor that he believed in the material enough to
participate in it; stars ranging from William Holden to Paul Newman passed on
the movie before Lancaster landed the part.

The Swimmer (Blu-ray) has received a strong 1080p/1.85:1, which
highlights the film's almost explosively colorful visuals. The film definitely
has the look of a classic melodrama, with bright, vibrant colors everywhere, but
there's also something oddly ominous about the visual design. At one point,
Lancaster asks aloud why the sun isn't providing any warmth, and he might as
well be commenting on the bright-but-chilly look of the film. The DTS HD 1.0
Master Audio track is strong, highlighting Hamlisch's big, bombastic score
(which some have accused of going too far over the top, but which certainly
makes an enormous impression) and presenting the dialogue with clarity. The
biggest and best supplement is a 2 and 1/2 hour documentary called "The
Story of the Swimmer" (broken into multiple parts), which features
interviews with surviving cast and crew members (including Joan Rivers). You
also get a handful of still and storyboard galleries, an interview with actress
Marge Champion (conducted by filmmaker Alison Anders), a recitation of the
original short story (read by the author himself), some TV spots, a DVD copy and
a booklet featuring an essay by director Stuart Gordon. A terrific package!

Closing Statement

The Swimmer is a knockout punch of a film and one of the great dramas
of the 1960s. If you can look beyond the strange, melodramatic tone, you'll be
treated to a tremendous cinematic rumination on the emptiness of the American
dream. Highly recommended.